She's In Love
by LadyJenn1
Summary: Draco is working for the Daily Prophet and has an assignment to cover the engagement party of his old flame from school. Will the sparks reunite or crash and burn? Please R&R!
1. The Assignment

She's In Love   
  
(semi-inspired by the song by Mark Wills)  
  
The Assignment:  
  
Eight years after Hogwarts graduation, Draco Malfoy was sitting at his desk at the Daily Prophet Headquarters. There was an assignment sitting on his desk that lay forgotten as he stared wide - eyed at the wall. "How could this have happened?" he asked himself. The girl he had been in love with for 12 years was engaged to another man, and he had to cover the story for the Daily Prophet. "I guess that's what you get for putting down the family. Why couldn't I just take the Dark Mark? Oh yeah, I have a heart." Draco chuckled at his bickering conscience. Even if he had become a Death Eater, he would still have the problem of this girl being engaged to somebody other than him.   
  
All the paper said was an address and a time, he had been given the information of what he was to be covering in advance. The engagement party was to be held at 12 Phoenix Place at 7:30 PM. There was a formal dinner before that press wasn't invited to. "Press, that would be me. Not old friend, not even acquaintance, press," he thought miserably. It was amazing how one little assignment, one little slip of paper could reopen years old wounds. He thought he had moved on, but upon hearing about the engagement, he knew he thought wrong.   
  
He knew what he would have to do. He would have put on a game face and go down to the Phoenix Hall to the engagement party. He would pretend that he had never had feelings for her, and that he hadn't thought about her one bit since graduation. In truth, he had realized his feelings for her in the beginning of fourth year. Of course, she could never know of this, so he kept it a total secret from almost everyone (for it was impossible to keep a secret from all). He would just have to put up the front that he had in school whenever he was near her. Although, because eight years had passed, perhaps he wouldn't have to be quite so mean.   
  
He had two days to mentally prepare himself to be in her presence again, and this time with the love of her life around. He wondered who she was engaged to. "Maybe, if I had listened to my assignment when Dukes was giving it to me, I might actually know who this mystery man was. But, no, I was too busy thinking about how I would get to see her again." It seemed like Draco's conscience was getting the best of him there. "O, great, I'll get to meet the love of her life while secretly wondering if she'll ever know that she's mine. Man, if I had only told her."   
  
He had to keep telling himself to be professional about this. Approach this situation like the reporter he was instead of a man with unrequited love. This is just another story I have to cover for the newspaper. I love to write so it shouldn't be too hard, although he knew this particular piece was going to be so much more difficult than reporting on wizards impersonating Muggles. It would even be harder than reporting about the life of the famous Harry Potter without having any bias come through in the story. "It's just a story," he kept telling himself. Maybe if he repeated it enough times over the next two days, he might begin to believe it.   
  
Saturday finally came around. After dreading the day for 48 hours, Draco knew it was time to face his fate. The one thing that told him this was not a normal story was he began to get ready at 4 PM. For any other assignment, he would maybe begin thinking about it 1 hour before and end up taking 15 minutes to get ready. He knew this would be difficult to do, so he gave plenty of time for emotional wars. He took an hour just to decide what to wear, knowing she probably wouldn't even notice, but going with the slight chance that she would. When the clock slowly rolled around to 7:15, he gathered his things and apparated to a street a few blocks away. He would use the extra time to clear his mind and prepare for seeing, but not properly, the girl of his dreams.   
  
Draco walked up the front steps of Phoenix Hall very slowly. He still was unsure of this, but he knew he had to do it. He had to confront this, and not only for the sake of his job at the paper. He stood at the door for about 5 more minutes, trying to find the courage to open it, and when he finally did he was greeted by a beautifully decorated open hall. There were tables in a horseshoe around an open dance floor with white rose petals in the corners. There were white roses and lilies all over the room, suspended from the chandelier, hanging in midair, and some even floated around the room. What this girl couldn't do with a wand.   
  
Somebody must have noticed him standing in the entranceway looking lost and came up to him. "Sir, press sign is over there," said girl a little younger than him pointing to a long table to the left of them.   
  
"Oh, thank you," he replied snapping out of his stupor. "Is it that obvious?" he joked.   
  
"Just a little," she stated then stared at him with a look that said she was figuring something out. Draco just started walking toward the press table without a word when it dawned on the girl.   
  
"Draco?" she asked. 


	2. The Party

Hey, I think I forgot to add a disclaimer to the first chapter, but I'll do it now. I do not own Harry Potter. I am not richer than the queen, and I do not live in England. Now, on with the story . . .   
  
Chapter 2: The Party  
  
The girl looked like she was trying to figure something out. Draco started walking toward the press table without a word when it dawned on the girl.  
  
"Draco?" she asked.  
  
The blonde turned around at the sound of his name, and found himself face to face with another face from the past. A girl of about 23 was standing in front of him. She was tall and slender, but still shorter than him, with her sandy brown straight hair that reached halfway down her back. Her eyes were still the same green, but her skin was a little paler than he remembered from the summers. "Maggie," he whispered softly. She shook her head in agreement. He couldn't believe that he never thought about her being there. Of course, it was her older sister's engagement. "Man, seeing you again sure brings back a lot of memories," he told her.   
  
"Yes, of course, I didn't think I would be seeing you here. The wizarding world isn't that small, is it?"   
  
"No," he replied laughing. "I'm just the lucky reporter from the Daily Prophet that gets to come to this extravagant party to write a column about it. Who is your sister marrying, anyway, to be able to afford such a lavish party?"   
  
"For a reporter, you sure don't have all your facts, Mr. Malfoy. Dean Thomas, but he's not paying for this alone. My sister has ways of making her own money, you know ingenuity is not only a Malfoy family trait."   
  
Draco's work was soon forgotten as he began talking to Maggie as if the years had never passed and they were still on summer vacation. Draco and Maggie had met at a Muggle beach villa in Australia after Draco's fifth year at Hogwarts. Maggie was a Muggle only 2 years younger than him, and although his father disliked anybody in his family associating with Muggles, Draco was allowed to when away from wizards. There was something his father didn't know about her, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him.   
  
Maggie and Draco had spent three summers in a row at that villa together. When summer was over after seventh year, Draco did what was expected of him and got a job and moved out of his parents house. Draco and Maggie went their separate ways but promised not to forget each other. They both thought this was just a standard parting of ways, but Maggie didn't know how much Draco meant it. He would never be able to forget Maggie, mainly because of how much he cared for her sister but was never able to show it. Of course Draco did like Maggie, but she could never compare to her sister. Draco met Maggie on his own, but once he found out who her sister was, he was sure to spend all his time with Maggie so that he could at least be near her sister. Maggie liked hanging out with Draco, but that was all. They would never be anything more, but Maggie sometimes wondered who the girl constantly on his mind was.   
  
The summer after his final year at Hogwarts, she found out. Her sister hadn't gone on vacation that summer, so that she could find a steady job and be settled by the time fall came around. That summer, nothing changed between Maggie and the boy, but he did not seem as distracted when he was around her family. Maggie had a feeling that it was because her sister was gone, because she had never liked the fact that they spent time together. One day when they were watching the sunset from the pier, Maggie asked him about her sister. She had always gotten weird vibes when they were in the presence of each other. Draco knew that he could no longer keep it a secret, somebody had to know how he had felt for almost 4 years. So he told her everything. He told her how he had loved her for a long time, but how he treated her at school because he was expected to by his friends and father. He told her how much she probably hated him and the front he had been putting up for years. Maggie just listened and took all of this in. She knew that Draco had been wanting to tell somebody for years, but could never trust anyone enough. She was glad that after three years she could be trusted.   
  
The two old friends talked like it was just the next summer and it hadn't been eight years since they last saw each other, but only one as was standard. Maggie was telling Draco all about her life from where they left off, and about how her sister and Dean Thomas had met again after school and their whole ordeal. This information, although vital, was very painful for Draco to hear. She had shown Draco around all of Phoenix Hall, and basically they had told each other their life stories of the past eight years; how he had become a reporter for the wizard newspaper, and how she had become a grade school teacher in Muggle London, but worked in her sister's shop in Diagon Alley on the weekends. Maggie did leave out most of her sister's past, hoping that she would tell Draco herself.   
  
The guests from the dinner party began arriving while they had been talking, and around 8:15, Dean Thomas and his bride to be finally arrived. The sight of her was breathtaking. She was exactly how Draco had remembered, except a little bit older. She was exactly as he had imagined her being; elegant, petit but strong, radiant, but above all extremely, breathtakingly beautiful. After they had meet - and - greeted all of their guests, those who had come from the dinner party, and the "less important" ones also, Maggie went up to talk to her sister and left Draco alone with his thoughts.   
  
Draco wandered aimlessly around the decorated hall, taking in all his surroundings. He was memorizing the hall, the people, the bride and groom to be, everything, not only for an accurate description for the newspaper, but for his memory. He wanted to remember this day forever, because he got to see her again, if only for a fleeting second. She was so radiant that it was impossible to just forget about her - about how he felt about her.   
  
When he was wandering around, he met up with many people from his past, especially those from Hogwarts. Every person he talked to seemed to have grown up a lot, but it was to be expected. Ginny Weasley was now Virginia Potter, and was pregnant with the third child of many more to come. Ron was there with his fiancée, a younger looking witch who said she had attended Beauxbatons. There were many other couples he met from his school days, some to be expected and some not. Luna Lovegood was there with Colin Creevey. That was an oddly perfect match. One thing he did notice was that with each person he talked to, their faces were almost identical. Each person had wandering eyes and a very forced smile as if they were trying to figure out why he was talking to them, or what he was even doing there. "Gosh," he wondered, "Was there anybody I didn't offend in school?" "Probably not," his conscience answered him.   
  
After about forty minutes, Draco was ready to leave without even getting a good look at "her". He was heading towards the coat closet when Maggie found him again. "Hey Draco, come with me to talk to my sister," she said as she approached him.   
  
"Uh, I don't know Maggie. It's been a long night and I don't really know that she'll want to talk to me."   
  
"Aw, come on! You know you want to, and besides, 20 more minutes wont make a difference. Apparate straight home instead of a few blocks away. You can clear your mind while lying in your bed."  
  
"After all these years you still know me too well. I guess I'll go for a few minutes, but I can't stay long. I've got an article to write," he said. "And if I stay too long I'll fall in love all over again," he added silently.   
  
When he walked back inside, Dean and his fiancée were dancing on the open floor. Many couples had left by that time so they could be home in time to put their kids to bed. Maggie decided they should wait until that song was over for them to go talk to her sister. Since it was a long song, Draco decided he would do something to pass the time.   
  
"Maggie," he said turning to face her and sticking out his hand. "Would you like to dance?"   
  
"Of course, for old times sake," she said remembering how she learned to shag from Draco at the beach. They danced through that song, which happened to be a waltz. They were just leaving the dance floor when the next song came on and just happened to be the exact song Maggie learned to shag to. Draco couldn't resist that song, so he and Maggie kept dancing. By the time they were done dancing, another hour had passed, and they still hadn't talked to the guests of honor.   
  
By then everybody was beginning to leave. "Draco, we do need to go talk to my sister before the night's over. She really does want to speak with you again," stated Maggie simply. Draco knew the pain this would bring, seeing Dean so happy with the girl of his dreams, but he knew he had to do it to heal. He could never have her, he had come to grips with that, but he could also never stop loving her. He would just have to find closure somehow. Maggie took Draco's hand and led him over to where her sister and Dean were sitting at a table talking.   
  
"Sis, look who I found here tonight," Maggie said to get her older sister's attention. The witch looked up and Draco Malfoy found himself face to face with his love, Hermione Granger.   
  
She was even more beautiful than he remembered, especially. Seeing her after eight years brought back so much for Draco. So much pain, so much hurt, and so much love. "Hello, Draco," Hermione said with a smile, this one not forced like the others. "It's good to see you met up with Maggie again."   
  
"Oh, yeah. I'm just here reporting for the Daily Prophet. Quite a nice party you had here," he told her. Then looked at his watch. He had been there a lot longer than he had expected, and the time was a perfect excuse to make a quick escape. "Sorry, Hermione, but I have to go. I've got to write up this article tonight. Congratulations," Draco said quickly. He hoped they couldn't tell he was lying, but he couldn't stay any longer. "Bye Hermione, Dean," he said waving as he started for the door.   
  
He was hurriedly grabbing his coat and scarf and gathering his things when Maggie walked up to him. "Draco," she hesitated. "I know this seems a little odd, especially with everything going on right now, but I had fun talking to you tonight. Do you want to go out sometime and catch up some more?"   
  
"Yeah, sure. I had fun with you, too. It was like we were back at the beach. I'd love to go out sometime. Are you doing anything next weekend? I'm free."   
  
"Next weekend's great. Come and pick me up at that new bookstore in Diagon Alley. I have work until 5."   
  
"Great. I'll pick you up around 5:30." He gave Maggie a quick hug and walked out the door. To his surprise, it had started snowing while they were in the hall. He hugged his coat tightly to him and wrapped his scarf around his neck while he began walking down Phoenix Place. He had too much to ponder to apparate directly back to his place yet 


	3. The Ink Well

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this . . . well, actually I own Chris, but he ain't that great anyway.   
  
AN: sorry this isn't that much, but I have a family reunion tomorrow and wanted to get it up before I had to go there. ONWARD!!!  
  
Chapter 3: The Ink Well  
  
The article about Hermione's engagement to Dean Thomas appeared in Monday's edition of the Daily Prophet. Surprisingly, Draco had remembered a great deal about the actual party, considering how distracted he had been by the presence of her. There was a stunning picture of the happy couple at the top of the page, and a brief description below. It was enough information to keep the gossipy witches satisfied. That was all it was about wasn't it? Satisfying the customer. Who cared how he felt?   
  
"I saw her last weekend," Draco drawled lazily from his position on the couch while visiting with his friend Chris. He'd been trying to brush it under the rug so as not to dwell on how happy she looked with Dean. This tactic had been working quite unsuccessfully, so he just decided to tell Chris. After all, he knew all about Draco's unrequited love for Hermione. Although he had not attended Hogwarts, but Durmstrang, Chris had lived next door to Draco growing up, so they kept close through the years.   
  
"And she would be," Chris said sitting down on the other couch while turning on the Muggle television. Chris, although he was a wizard, lived in Muggle London because he worked as a Muggle. He found Muggles fascinating.   
  
"Hermione Granger, the one and only dude," Draco said as if Chris should have known who he was talking about.   
  
"Wow, her again? How'd she look?" Chris asked. He obviously didn't get what Draco was suggesting.   
  
"In love." That was all Draco needed to say. Chris knew how serious that was. Draco had never really been shown love at home, so he took how he felt about Hermione very seriously.   
  
"Wow, I'm so sorry man, but these things do happen."   
  
"Yeah, but it's like I never had a change with her. I know it's all my fault, but she is just so unapproachable. The closest I ever got to her was her sister. Believe me, Maggie's amazing, but she's nowhere near Hermione. Maggie even knew that I loved her sister and not her." Draco kept rambling on and on, until Chris finally stopped him.   
  
"Draco, who was she with?"   
  
"Her fiancé. Dean Thomas, richest person from my graduating class after high and mighty Potter."  
  
"Do you think that's why?"  
  
"No, she would never go for that. That's something a Slytherin would do, not her, she's too classy for that," he paused. "She was genuinely in love and very happy with it."  
  
"Well, where did you see them? Were they out somewhere or what?"  
  
"Her engagement party. Can we just not talk about this anymore?"  
  
"No, woah, what were you doing at her engagement party? You weren't stalking her were you?"  
  
"No way, I would never sink that low. It was an assignment for the paper. I had to go."  
  
"Couldn't you have just explained to your boss the emotional pain it would cause you? Couldn't you get somebody else to do it for you?"   
  
"Ha ha, me tell Rita Skeeter that I have emotions! Like that would go over very well, it would be smeared all over the front page. 'A MALFOY WITH FEELINGS!' I can see it now. That was not going to happen, and if I got somebody else to cover the story for me, I wouldn't get paid for it. I need the money."   
  
"Ok, well, lets watch this," Chris said, pointing to the movie he had in his hand, Pearl Harbor. "We can get back to her when you feel better, if you want."   
  
It wasn't until Thursday morning, when Draco was shuffling the papers on his desk that he remembered his date with Maggie on Saturday. There it was on a piece of parchment.   
  
5:30, The Ink Well, Diagon Alley. (Go left from the entrance at The Leaky Cauldron). C-ya there! ~ Maggie  
  
  
  
What the heck is The Ink Well. Maggie told me to pick her up where she works sometimes, but he had never heard of The Ink Well. "Must be a new shop I guess," he thought, "I'll find out on Saturday. Wait, that's two days. I guess I'll have to think of something to do on this reunion/date thing."   
  
Just then, a short and somewhat chunky man walked in. It was Dukes, Rita Skeeter's assistant. "Draco, new assignment. You have to go to the grand opening of this new book shop in Diagon Alley on Saturday. See if you can get any background information on it before then so publish for publicity. It's a store that some writer is opening, called The Ink Well I think. Look it up." With that he was gone. "Guess I'm going to Chris's tonight to call Maggie on the phone. I'll get some information about The Ink Well and it'll help me and my job. Extra info means extra pay."   
  
Draco was standing outside of Chris's apartment building trying to find which buzzer went to his apartment. "Ah, Chris Heard, 16 B," he said when he finally located it. "Hey Chris, it's me."  
  
"Oh, hey Draco, I didn't think you were coming by today."  
  
"I was just wondering if I could stop by to use your telephone."  
  
"Umm...yeah, hold on. Kathryn's here, I'll let you up in a minute."  
  
Great, thought Draco. I'll be standing in the cold for about 15 minutes before he remembers I'm out here. But it wasn't long before the door opened and he went inside. He went over to the elevators, not in the mood for climbing 16 flights of stairs. "For not having magic, Muggles sure do find ways to make life easier." He reached into his coat pocket to be sure that he had the slip of paper with Maggie's phone number on it. He normally would have thrown it away, not having a telephone himself, but he actually kept it this time.   
  
"Chris," Draco called while pounding on his door. The music was coming loudly from inside, and he was pretty sure he knew why. "Man, he knew I was coming up!" Draco groaned. He decided just to take a seat on the floor by the door. Chris would eventually remember that he was coming. After a few minutes, he couldn't tell how long it had been, a very familiar looking girl walked by. It couldn't be, but somehow it was.   
  
"Hermione?" he asked. She turned around to see who was calling her name, and looked around bewildered then turned her head to go. While doing so, she caught sight of Draco leaning against the wall and sitting on the floor. "Draco," she questioned.   
  
"Yes, what are you doing here?" he asked.   
  
"I was going to visit my sister. Why are you here?" she asked him.  
  
"Actually, I was going to call use Chris's phone and call your sister, but since it appears that she lives here, it would be much more convenient just to talk to her. There's no telling how much longer it will be before I actually get let in there."   
  
"Follow me then," Hermione said while offering her hand to help him stand up. When he clasped her hand, he went cold, and he knew she felt it too. A jolt went through them both, but he just stood up quickly as if nothing had happened. "Better not to let her know," he thought, "She's getting married soon. Don't want to interfere with that." He followed her down the hall where they stopped at apartment 16 J. "Maggie!" Hermione called as she knocked on the door. "I'm here and I found somebody surprising in the hall way who wishes to talk to you."   
  
When Maggie opened the door she was surprised to see Hermione standing there with Draco Malfoy. "Hey Hermione," she said while hugging her sister. "Draco, how did you know I live here?" she asked instead of saying hello.   
  
"I didn't. I was sitting outside my friend's apartment waiting to use his telephone to call you. He lives in 16B," Draco kindly explained.   
  
Maggie invited them both in and closed the door behind them. "Well, what did you want to talk about?" she asked rather politely. Hermione quietly excused herself to the bathroom to give them privacy.   
  
"This place that I'm meeting you on Saturday, The Ink Well. What is it?"   
  
"You'll see when you get there."  
  
"I'm writing a story on it, and I kind of need some information to publish to get people to come to the grand opening on Saturday. I'll be there then, and if I have previous information, I'll get paid extra, and I really need the money."  
  
"Ok, I'll tell you some then. It's a bookshop that is going to be opening. It's owned by a quite accomplish author of wizarding romance novels. She's written some recent best sellers such as A Wicked Spell, Lovers Potion, and Charmed. It'll be quite a shop actually. It'll have tons of books by Muggle and Wizard authors. Is that enough information for publicity and a bonus?"   
  
"It should be, but why did you sound like an advertisement?"   
  
"I guess it's just a gift," she joked.   
  
"Well, I'll be going and let you and your sister enjoy your dinner."   
  
"Bye Draco, see you Saturday," she said while giving him a hug goodbye.   
  
Chris opened his door to find nobody. "Odd, I thought Draco was coming up to use the telephone." He looked down the halls to see if Draco had gotten bored and gone for a mini-walk and he saw him walking out of an apartment while hugging a girl. "Hmm..." he wondered. Draco had finally gotten down to his end of the hall.   
  
"Draco, who was that?"  
  
"Oh, just some girl I know."  
  
"Oh, ok, didn't you need to use my phone or something?" Chris asked, acting like he had just gotten called up and it hadn't been about half an hour.   
  
"Actually, no. That was the person I needed to call. Did you know that Hermione's sister lives on your hall?"   
  
"No, you mean I might actually get to see this girl in person?"   
  
"Maybe. Oh, and you missed a button."  
  
Chris looked down at his shirt and blushed. "Thanks bud, haha. I'll see you tomorrow. Come by even if you can't stay."   
  
"I will. Catch ya later, dude. Tell Kathryn hey for me." With that Draco waved bye and walked off towards the elevators, leaving Chris with a few questions about apartment 16 J. 


End file.
